The Council of Abū Ḥanīfah

An example of this: Imam Abū Ḥanīfah was sitting in his ḥalaqah, his circle. His way of teaching was unique among the four Imams. Abū Ḥanīfah had a council: he would present an issue for debate, they would discuss it and give their opinions, and then he would give the final verdict. With the other three Imams, they were the ones who gave the verdict, and everyone in front of them was a student. When you sat in the ḥalaqah of Imam Mālik, you were a student: you did not argue with Imam Mālik; you took from him.

With Imam Abū Ḥanīfah it was different. He had, for example, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan and Abū Yūsuf. We do not call them the students of Abū Ḥanīfah; we call them al-ṣāḥibān, the two friends, or the two companions. Even though they studied with Abū Ḥanīfah, we do not call them his students, because there was a council with him in which he would discuss affairs.

In any case, there was a scholar of hadith who used to sit in this council of Imam Abū Ḥanīfah, and he narrated a hadith. Imam Abū Ḥanīfah did not know that hadith; he did not have that knowledge. Then a woman came and asked a question of this scholar of hadith who was sitting in the gathering of Abū Ḥanīfah. That scholar of hadith said: Allah knows best; I do not know the answer. Imam Abū Ḥanīfah said: I know the answer. That scholar of hadith said: O Imam, how did you know the answer? He said: I knew the answer from the hadith you have just narrated.

So this is an example of someone who carries knowledge but does not know how to apply it. Imam Abū Ḥanīfah did not have that knowledge, but when he had it, he knew how to use it. Allah (swt) gave Yūsuf (peace be upon him) both, ḥukm and ʿilm: good judgement of events, and knowledge.